


Baby It's Cold Outside

by ForeverUnited93



Series: 12 Days of Narry [7]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Christmas Caroling, Liam and Niall are camp counselors, Louis and Harry are the newbies, M/M, Narry - Freeform, Snowball Fights, for a christmas camp for rich kids, puppies with peanut butter, tree decorating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5413955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverUnited93/pseuds/ForeverUnited93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or the one where Niall really enjoys little kids putting christmas ornaments all over Harry like a christmas tree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby It's Cold Outside

Little screaming kids. Check.

Puppies with peanut butter. Check.

Christmas ornaments. Check.

A couple of volunteers forced to be elves for a Christmas camp so that their rich parents can get away from their little terrors. Check.

For the past three days, Niall had been in a monotone cycle of the same few things that drove insane every year, at this time of year. And it was all Liam’s fault. He grumbled as he walked into the Christmas camp one morning, little kids that should not have been up for another hour were screaming their heads off. Liam, best friend since they were in diapers, was rushing around as usual.

He ran a local Christmas camp for rich little kids while their parents fled the country for the holidays. Niall could stand the parents, most of them were decent enough, had good hearts. Just the way that they raised some of their kids ticked him off.

Curse Liam for forcing him into this. Curse the whole town for allowing Liam to do this. Curse his kind heart. But Niall stopped himself, telling himself to calm down and it remember, it was over on Friday. It was currently Wednesday and all he had to do was survive until then. He could do this.

Niall took in a deep breath as he quickly changed into the required clothing for the camp, biting his tongue on another curse as he stood in the mirror. Every year, he was a different Christmas character. The first two years, he was a reindeer. The year after, a snowman. Last year, Niall was able to be Santa and only come once during the week of torture. This year unfortunately, Niall was an elf.

A faux blond elf that might have a permanent scowl on his face. He adjusted his elf ears and pulled on the spandex tights that was tight in too many uncomfortable places. Little screams filled his ears as he walked closer to the door dividing the children and the rest of the staff.

“Welcome to hell.” Niall muttered as he past other elves. He wasn’t sure if they heard him, he was trying to make sure that A) the kids didn’t hear him and B) Liam didn’t hear him. Liam would kick him out of their flat if he messed this up. And unfortunately, since Niall had been Liam’s right hand man for this entire operation, it definitely came with cons.

First off, mainly people always asked Niall to cover their shifts whenever they needed one. His only friend at the place, excluding Liam, was a girl named Jade. And she almost never asked for a shift change so most of the time, he said no and would on his way.

Second off, the kids loved him. He had been always recommended by the other parents, some he knew by name and knew how disappointed they would be if he didn’t return a year. Why did he have to be a natural light that everyone gravitated too? Why couldn’t he just a have a normal Christmas for once? That’s all he ever asked for.

A little girl, probably no more than the age of five screamed as someone took her teddy bear. Niall watched on, zeroing on the culprit and was on the scene within seconds. At the sight of an adult, most kids would have cowered and done the right thing. These kids were different and it irked Niall in all of his being. He prayed that he never raised his kids like this, if he were to ever settle down that is.

The culprit was older, and a boy. Niall smiled to himself as he consoled the girl, saying that all boys were just meanies and he would get her teddy bear back. Deep down, Niall loved kids. He wanted to have three of his own one day. If only he found the suitable partner. He shook his head, it was the wrong time, wrong moment to be thinking about this. So he went off to find the boy, who merely sat a couple feet away.

At first glance, the boy cowered and Niall felt bad, but when the bear was returned, Niall only provoked his dessert privileges if he didn’t at least apologize to the young girl. The situation was resolved and Niall continued on his way to the arts and crafts section.

That place within itself was a mad house. He could see Jade rushing about, trying to stop the little ones from eating glue or cutting off their ears. It happened one year, don’t ask Niall how, he wasn’t there to witness it. Jade visibly relaxed when he was in her line of vision and went to helping her calm the little sprouts down.

He was sure that he was going to become deaf by the end of the week, like he always almost did each year. He had an crick in his neck that refused to leave him, so when Jade promised to give him a neck massage at dinner, he felt a little better about his day.

Thankfully, lunch came quickly that day, and Niall found himself gorging on the food that Liam had supplied.

“Just a few more days crew, we can come out strong this year I know it.” Niall rolled his eyes as Jade giggled. Every year, the crew nearly died of exhaustion and more or less, the last day the kids did as they pleased because everyone couldn’t be bothered.

“I hired two more people today, so please allow them to be late or a little clumsy. I think this is the year that we get our act together.” Liam was crap as motivational speeches but Niall still clapped for him as the rest of the team did. He smiled and left everyone to return to whatever they were working on before.

Niall walked into the storeroom later that afternoon and found Misty, Liam’s prized husky, playing around with a empty peanut butter jar. Oh no.

“Okay who gave Misty peanut butter?” Niall wasn’t expecting an answer, just a little angry as he tried to get the jar away from the puppy. So yeah, he might have had a heart attack when a voice came through to his ears saying,

“I did.” Niall spun around to find another badly dressed elf with a sheepish smile on his face. The lone elf continued to smile as he picked up the pup, stroking its ears softly.

“Was I not suppose to?” Niall shrugged, effectively yanking the jar out of Misty’s mouth and tossing it into a trash bin to the side.

“Not unless it’s your dog. It’s Liam’s.” At the sound of her master’s voice, Misty barked excitedly. She began to wiggle in the stranger’s arms as he tried to get a safe hold on her.

“Oh."

“Yeah he doesn’t like the little kids getting to her because it's a right pain in the arse to get it out her teeth.”

“Oh I’m sorry. It’s my first day here.” Niall snorts, but doesn’t dare to say a word. He knew a newbie when he saw one but he remembered how he spent his first day here, and decided that this stranger didn’t deserve that.

“It’s fine. Just don’t let Liam catch you. We can always blame it on the kids because let’s face it, no one can resist that face.” Niall moved closer to the stranger to rub Misty’s face as she barked again, tongue rolled out and a dog smile on her muzzle.

“Thanks. I’m Harry.”

“Niall.”

“How long have you worked here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Five years, so believe me when I say it's nice to see a new face around here.”

“Five years?” Harry’s eyes seem to bulge out of his head and Niall chuckles at the thought.

“Yeah, been here since the start. I owed Liam for something we did in high school so that was that. At least this year, I’m not just an awkward elf. This year, Liam is finally paying everyone. What brought you here today?” Harry smiles, laughing softly and Misty yips, struggling to get out again.

“I wanted to help out with the children this year.” Niall’s eyebrow rose skeptically and Harry sighed.

“My friend and I lost a bet.”

“Figured as much, no one really comes here on their own free will. Lord knows I didn’t do this happily, Liam just knows too much.” Niall was about to continue when the storage doors flung open and a body dashed by. Niall recognized the tattoos of Liam and his voice as he ran by. Misty must’ve taken obedience lessons since the last time Niall saw her, for she successfully wiggled out of Harry’s grasp and followed Liam with a bark.

“And then there were two.”

“Who was that?”

“My friend Louis. He likes to break things and talk sass to the authority. It’s amazing he’s not dead yet.”

“Ah that makes sense. Wait I know a Louis. I didn’t get a glimpse of your friend.”

“Oh well he’s well known enough, he auditions to play for the rovers every summer.”

“Short, salty about his height, feathery brown hair, teal eyes?” Harry nodded and Niall stroked his chin.

“Huh, small world. Yeah that doesn’t surprise me, I wonder what mess he’s gotten himself into now.”

“With Louis you never know.” Niall laughs hard, like his face crinkles up and he swears he’s crying. He doesn’t even know why it's so funny to him but seeing Harry’s laugh as well, well it made the rest of his day a little brighter.

It was Thursday when someone had tipped him off that a tree had not yet been decorated. Niall normally didn’t care but the fact that it was the tree was in the center of the camp, made him question how Liam didn’t already see it. He would kill someone, a good possibility it would be him, if it was not decorated soon.

So after he had gone and asked Jade where the Christmas lights were, he went on a search for Harry. If he was going down, he was taking one of the newbies down with him. Louis, as he knew would happen, had cause Liam enough havoc to last him a lifetime. And honestly Niall was just glad that it wasn’t him that Liam was yelling at.

They may be best friends that didn’t even beginning to save him from certain death, or certain unnecessary rants provided by Liam. Niall could feel the headache coming on so he retreated to his cabin, where he also knew the box of ornaments were stored. His cabin was more or less a storage cabin other than the storage room.

It could have been for the fact that Niall ditched the camp more years than stay. So to find a person already there frightened Niall more than it should have.

“Harry!” Niall had gone into his cabin and Harry was there sleeping like a log on the couch. He wasn’t expecting the lad there, and quite frankly he needed help so it was good that he was there. Harry wakes up flailing, crashing to the floor in an almost comical way that Niall has to stifle his laugh.

“Excuse me, what was that for?”

“Excuse you, that was my couch you were sleeping on. On the job too, wow you’re just racking up the strikes.” Harry groans, rubbing his face and yawns like a kitten. Huh. Niall never noticed that before. It was cute.

“Okay I’m sorry, I had a long night.”

“Can’t blame you, had one of me own. But hey, I need help untangling these Christmas lights. The tree in the dinner pavilion needs to be decorated before campfire tonight. Liam’s orders.” Harry groans again, but either didn’t care that the floor was absolutely filthy or didn’t know because he didn’t pick himself up.

“Is that all?”

“Actually yes, can you get the box from behind this couch out? It has all the ornaments in there.” Harry gives Niall a stupid salute and gets up to move the couch. Niall continued his work until the box is moved and Harry in turn helps him untangle the lights. It takes them nearly an hour and a couple of laughs that they successfully untangle everything and go on their way to the dinner pavilion.

“I got the tinsel and I’ll be set on doing that and you can get the lights okay?” Harry says as soon as they reach the tree. Niall nods, already unwrapping the lights and goes on circling the tree right behind Harry. Besides the little kids distracting Harry at one point, stringing stray ornaments on his Christmas sweater like he was the tree, and Niall tripping over a loose light strand, they finish without much fault. All that was left was the star.

“I could get down on my knees and you can get on my shoulders to put the star up?” Harry suggested and it was their only chance unless they wanted Liam to yell at them to postponing the tree for this long.

“Alright, just don’t drop me.”

“I would never!” Niall grumbles and situates himself on Harry’s shoulders, gripping on his head for dear life with other hand holding the star.

“Just lift me up and don’t do anything else!” Harry snickers and it feels far too weird with Niall’s thighs on either side of Harry’s head that he tries not to think too much about it. He just reaches for all of his might to put the star on the top of the tree, and once it's there and balanced, Niall feels his own balance waver.

“Harry!” Niall wraps his arms around Harry’s head in attempt to stay on. Harry says something unintelligible and kneels down again. Once Niall is back on the sweet ground, Harry tries again.

“Geez you’ve got a grip on ya. Are you afraid of heights mate?”

“Don’t you say another word and never speak of this to anyone.” Niall hopes his face wasn’t as red as he feared it was. There were already too many little witnesses, he didn’t need the crew to get ahold of this.

He would never hear the end of it. Harry does that salute thing again while Niall’s stomach makes a mess of itself from the butterflies intent on fluttering around. Niall swallows the smile off of his face and raises his hand.

“We make a good team.” Harry follows his example and they high five, fingers entangling far too long to actually be considered a proper high five but Niall wasn’t complaining.

“Yeah I guess we do. See you at dinner then?” Niall nods, and Harry leaves him be with the curious little kids. Maybe they weren’t always so bad afterall.

The next day was the final day of the camp and quite personal Niall’s favorite. It meant that everyone could do whatever the hell they wanted the next morning, seeing that they were all stuck together on actual Christmas. It usually meant a lot of drinking and present galore. Niall loved it just slightly more than his own family Christmases.

But that all changed when Liam came into his cabin early that morning. How Liam was even up at that hour of the morning was beyond Niall but it normally meant something horrible was about to happen.

“Niall it’s your turn to go Christmas caroling to the kid cabins.” Niall wasn’t sure if he had ever moved so quickly in his life. He hated, no, loathed caroling and had been evading it for years. There wasn’t a thing he hated more than singing in freezing cold weather to a bunch of kids. There was no way in hell that he was doing this.

“There’s nothing you can do to change it Niall, I’ve known of all the shift changings, the false illnesses, the leaving early to go back to family. It's been years and you have a lovely voice. And don’t you deny it because I’ve heard your shower concerts.” Niall has the decency to blush but it was no use.

“You’re not alone this year alright, you’ve got Harry with you because he still needs to learn.”

“What about Louis?”

“His birthday was yesterday, and he’s actually sick unlike you’ve been the past four years.”

“Excuse me, I came down with pneumonia the first year and it was all your fault.”

“I apologized for that years ago, stop faking an illness and man up. It’s not even going to be close to minus degrees this year.” Niall grumbles as Liam takes that as a yes and vacates his cabin. Well not entirely.

“And by the way, you both have to wear tuxes so you can always borrow mine.” And then Liam leaves. Niall can moan and groan all he wants but that doesn’t stop him from showing up at Harry’s cabin at exactly 8:30 to drag his singing mate out for caroling.

“Who’s bright idea was this anyways?” Harry wonders aloud as they grab winter coats and the music sheets. Niall can only raise an eyebrow as he waits for Harry to understand.

“Oh right. Well I happen to love singing and was planning to go caroling this year anyways.” Niall snorts, and it turns into a laugh too quickly for his liking. Harry just smiles as they trudge along the snowy walkways. They make it through the first few cabins alright before some of the kids start making requests. Harry doesn’t mind and actually gets Niall to agree with a stupidly cute puppy dog face that shouldn’t be legal.

But the smiles on the kids faces were so worth it, some of them were certainly missing their parents and it made Niall wonder what his parents were doing this year without him. At one of the cabins with the older kids, they requested “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”

“You’re the girl.” Niall says before Harry can protest, which causes the kids to giggle. They sing in acapella, since neither of them thought to at least bring a guitar out in this weather. Niall starts it.

“ _I really can't stay, Baby it's cold outside_ ” Niall starts it and Harry harmonizing with him quickly.

 _“I've got to go away - Baby it's cold outside_  
This evening has been - Been hoping that you'd drop in  
So very nice - I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice

 _My mother will start to worry - Beautiful, what's your hurry?_  
Father will be pacing the floor - Listen to the fireplace roar  
So really I'd better scurry - Beautiful, please don't hurry  
Maybe just a half a drink more - Put some records on while I pour

 _The neighbors might think - Baby, it's bad out there_  
Say, what's in this drink? - No cabs to be had out there  
I wish I knew how - Your eyes are like starlight now  
To break this spell - I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell

_I ought to say no, no, no - Mind if I move in closer?"_

Harry shifts a little closer to Niall now that he notices, was it just for the song or was he going to try something?

 _"At least I'm going to say that I tried - What's the sense in hurting my pride?_  
I really can't stay - Baby don't hold out  
Ah, but it's cold outside”

Niall felt a shiver run down his spine, Harry was good, almost too good.

 _“I've got to get home - Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there_  
Say, lend me your coat - It's up to your knees out there  
You've really been grand - Thrill when you touch my hand  
Why don't you see - How can you do this thing to me?

 _There's bound to be talk tomorrow - Think of my lifelong sorrow_  
At least there will be plenty implied - If you caught pneumonia and died  
I really can't stay - Get over that hold out

 _Ah, but it's cold outside_  
_Oh, baby, it's cold outside_  
_Oh, baby, it's cold outside”_

By time that they were finished, Niall and Harry were standing close to each other, breathing in each other’s personal space. Niall faintly heard a door slam and he couldn’t have cared less. ****

Harry’s eyes flitted down to his lips, and Niall felt himself blush but kept his gaze on Harry as he contemplated the situation. What seemed like forever, Harry began to lean in and it would have been the kiss of the century had a snowball not splattered on Niall’s face the last second.

He whipped his head around to find the crew having the annual snowball fight with the older kids. Louis was standing a mere ten feet away from them holding a handful of snowballs, tossing one up in the other hand. His smile was infectiously evil and Niall wanted revenge.

So he scooped up a handful of snow, smiled back at Harry and successfully got Louis a mouthful of snow. His near kiss with Harry forgotten, Niall joined in with the staff’s side of the snowball fight, Harry following shortly after. The night was young and it gave Niall a fabulous reason to ignore the feelings igniting in his heart.

But the real fun started the next night as the kids were sent home, and the afterparty was in full swing.

“Why is Misty dressed up as a reindeer and nibbling on a carrot?” Niall seriously questions his sanity when he walks into big house that night. His mind is still fuzzy from the exchange with Harry and he wonders if he was indeed about to kiss him if Louis hadn’t interrupted them.

“Because Louis thought she looked cute as a reindeer.”

“This Louis character has you whipped eh Liam?”

“You can’t say anything when you and Harry were loving up on each other outside some cabin. If it wasn’t for Louis those kids would have been forever scarred.” Liam says with no real menace in his voice but it makes Niall blush all the same. Liam nods his head in the direction of the kitchen and Niall takes a deep breath, marching right in there to find Harry.

Harry was dressed in a stupid Christmas sweater but he still looked good. He was drinking something from a red solo cup, looking bored but perks up when he sees Niall.

“Hey fancy seeing you here.” He says and Niall has to laugh. He was such a dork.

“Well yeah, we both work here.”

“Let me have my fancy greeting and we’ll call it a deal." **  
**

“I’ll call it a deal if you continue what you started last night.” It only takes Harry a second to understand what Niall was saying but it only takes 0.5 seconds for him to push Niall against the wall and kiss him with such passion that Niall feels so light headed when it's over.

“Was that alright?” Harry breathes and Niall can only nod. He was definitely coming back for next year’s camp if it meant spending more time with Harry, he was certain of it. **  
**

**Author's Note:**

> From my mind to the computer keys to your eyes to read, I'm Jessica xx


End file.
